Edible Flowering Greens

This week’s share will include some edible flowering greens that you might not see at your local farmers market or grocery store. Bok choi, tat soi and hon stai tai are all Asian greens that like cool weather and are grown in the spring and fall. In Asia, these are purposefully grown until they flower and are prized for their delicate, sweet flowers and buds. Typically in the US they are harvested before they flower. With the strangely hot and dry spring, many of our Asian greens are ahead of schedule and are already flowering. Typically this doesn’t happen until the temperature really climbs in June. Rather than selling them to the public a few weeks ago before they flowered and having a smaller share this week for the CSA, I decided to hold on to them and keep them for you. I hope everyone enjoys an old favorite in a new, beautiful form! I recommend eating the leaves cooked or raw, and using the flowers as an addition to a salad or garnish a stir fry with chicken or fish.